“Why do you beg me so sweetly now? What game are you playing, Goddess?”
I should have guessed that someone who liked to torture and maim wouldn’t bother with politeness like using “please” and “thank you.” And realizing that only made me want to use them more.
“I am not her,” I said breathlessly.
He chuckled and brushed his lips against my ear.
“Only you can make me suffer with this much need that I would willingly break contracts. When are you going to insist on my punishment?”
I wasn’t sure exactly what he meant but understood we were once again walking in territory I didn’t belong. He needed to think of something else for a while.
“When are you going to stop starving me?” I asked to distract him.
He jerked away and looked me in the eyes.
“My stomach growled, remember?” I added.
His fingers moved more quickly in my hair and trailed down the back of my neck as he finished and released me.
“There. Your hair is as you like it.”
I felt the twisting braids artfully held in place by carved pins. He captured my hand and held it as we continued toward the throne room.
“Why didn’t you use your magic to put it up?” I asked.
“Why deny myself the pleasure of touching you when you’re so willing?”
“I’m not willing for whatever kind of touching has you smirking like that. I only said hands, remember?”
“Yes. Hands.” He lifted mine to his mouth and brushed his lips over my knuckles. “Delicate, beautiful hands.”
I started walking faster. Since kissing him, Hades' mind had settled on a single track, and we both desperately needed a diversion.
Zotera was sitting on the edge of her bed near the wall and jumped to her feet when she saw me. Hades and I had left her and Creon, Hell’s scribe, here in the throne room when we’d discovered my uncle. So, I wasn’t surprised to see her in the same place. No one in Hell seemed to have much to do with their time. However, she seemed very surprised to see me.
“Mother, you’re still here.” She smiled at me with barely contained joy. Some of the brightness in her smile faded when her gaze slid to my hand linked with Hades’.
She knew why I’d gone to see my uncle. Yet, like Hades, she thought I was Persephone, playing some game to gain her eight-month reprieve on Earth without having to earn it.
“I’m sorry,” she said with feeling.
I couldn’t help but smile back at the unusual, loyal woman.
“There’s nothing to be sorry for. Are you hungry?”
She nodded hesitantly and glanced at Hades.
“Come join us,” I said.
She met us near the thrones and the statue of Hades. I tipped my head back to look up at it while food appeared on the table already set for three. His glowering expression and slight downward angle of his head made it seem like he was angry at the whole room.
“Eat, Goddess,” Hades said, guiding me to the padded stool.
My hand felt wrong after he released it. Like I was missing something. Fisting it, I set it on my lap and looked at the food he’d created.
There were several types of cheeses, figs, olives, slices of rustic bread, and oil. I tore off a bite of bread and dipped it in the oil. It was good and reminded me of the time I’d made something similar for my uncle after reading about it in a magazine. I’d infused the oil, made the bread from scratch, and everything. It’d been the appetizer to homemade pizza.
I popped an olive into my mouth, absently chewing it as I thought of all the foods I’d made just to feel like I was part of the world I saw on TV. Simple things like takeout hadn’t been a possibility for me living in Uttira.
